


Days of Puppies Past

by deandratb



Series: Puppy Love [2]
Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 19:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14003214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: Elena visits Schneider and his puppy and learns something new.“Wait. Are you telling me you want to have a party for Schneider…and his puppy?” Penelope stood to press the inside of her wrist to her daughter’s forehead. “Who are you and what have you done with Elena?”





	Days of Puppies Past

**Author's Note:**

> Dad!feels and whoops this is a series now. Thanks to the Slack crew for help with puppy names.

_It was amazing how a puppy could turn even the most jaded teenager into a kid again,_ Schneider thought, while Elena sprawled across his floor to let Oprah climb over her stomach.

“I always wanted a puppy,” Elena confessed as the dog licked her face and she scrunched her nose up in self-defense. “Mom didn’t want me to get one, when Alex and I were little.”

“Yeah, Father wasn’t a big fan either,” he agreed.

“You know, _Papi_ actually got us a dog anyway?”

He shook his head. “No, I never heard about that. What happened?”

Oprah settled in Elena’s lap and she kissed the puppy’s forehead while Schneider grinned at them both.

“Oh, he brought home this little dog as a surprise. I was five or six, Alex probably doesn’t even remember it. Mom was so mad.” 

“Your mom gets along fine with Oprah,” Schneider pointed out. “I don’t think she hates dogs.”

“No!” Elena shook her head. “No, she loves dogs. She just…well, like I said, I was little. She knew who was going to end up taking care of a pet. As a six-year-old I was thrilled to have a puppy, but…”

She looked around his apartment, and shot him a smile. “Now, I get it. A puppy is hard work.”

Oprah nuzzled her neck and Elena laughed. “Hey, that tickles. Here, go to your dad.” Passing him the wriggling puppy, she rose to sit on Schneider’s couch.

“ _Papi_ turned out to be allergic, so we gave Coquito to this family we knew on the base. I still played with him sometimes, but it wasn’t the same. Thanks for letting me hang out with Oprah.”

“Your puppy’s name was ‘little coconut?’ That’s adorable.”

“Dude, you named your puppy **Oprah.** ”

“Yeah, well, she deserved a name as amazing as her. At least it’s better than Barkimedes,” Schneider added, cuddling Oprah under his chin. 

“Barkimedes? Who’s that?”

“That was my first puppy.”

“And you named him after the math guy? You were such a nerd!”

“Hey, I was only seven. My tutor was big into the Greeks that year. And Barksy had this wise, scruffy face–it almost looked like he had a beard.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about a dog before,” Elena said. “Did you bring him with you when you left Canada?”

“Oh, no. I was eighteen when I left Canada. I only had Barkimedes for a couple of years.”

“Why?”

“Well, he wasn’t a present somebody gave me. You know, like Coquito?” Schneider let Oprah waddle her way over to the couch, and Elena scooped her up off the floor. “I was seven, and I found him on the edge of our estate. The groundskeeper was supposed to be watching me because Rosa was sick, but I snuck off to where our property faced the neighbors.’”

Schneider shook his head, thinking back. “They had a whole pack of kids, that family, and I liked to watch the games they made up. Anyway, I was near the driveway that led to the servants’ entrance and there was this little…guy. And he ran right up to me. I’d never had a pet before, but it was just instant soulmates, Barkimedes and me. He ate his meals next to mine, he howled through my piano lessons, he was there for my nightmares.”

“I thought you said your dad didn’t like dogs.”

“He didn’t. But he was away too much for work to really notice. The maids were the ones who had to help look after him, and I tried really hard to do most of it myself. My stepmom thought it was cute.”

“So if your dad didn’t care and your mom liked him and nobody was allergic…what happened to Barkimedes?”

Elena’s concern for a puppy that was long gone was touching, but Schneider didn’t embarrass her by pointing it out. Like Penelope, she preferred to seem tough, as though the ability to be fierce and soft at the same time wasn’t the most badass quality anyone could have.

“Father remarried,” he said instead.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“My second stepmom hated dogs. And she kinda hated me. Father told me Barksy had to go, about a week after she moved in. I begged, I pleaded, I came up with a whole plan for how I could keep the dog and she would never even have to see him.”

“And?”

“I presented it to Father very formally, he thanked me for my input…and when I woke up the next morning, Barkimedes was gone.”

“No!” Elena hugged Oprah to her chest. “They just took him?”

“Without a word. A couple of weeks later I turned nine and Father sent me to boarding school. I probably couldn’t have taken Barksy with me then, anyway.”

“Schneider, that’s horrible.”

“Yeah.” He got up and joined her on the couch, accepting the puppy’s kisses from Elena’s lap. “But nothing like that is ever going to happen to this little girl. Not on my watch.”

“No, definitely not.” She checked the time on her phone and nudged Oprah in his direction. “Hey, I gotta go, but I’ll come back after dinner, okay?”

“Sure. Thanks for the visit, Elena. Oprah needs to get to know the whole family or she’s not going to be properly socialized.”

“It was fun. She’s great. Bye!”

She practically ran out the door, leaving him wondering what protest she was late for. _He hadn’t gotten any alerts–and they were on all the same mailing lists. Weird._

****

“Mom, I think we should throw Schneider a party.”

Penelope looked up from her books, surprised to find Elena at her side before dinner was even cooking. “What? Why?”

“It’ll be a month since he adopted Oprah, on Saturday, and Alex and I are both free, and Abuelita will be here, I checked.”

“Wait. Are you telling me you want to have a party for Schneider…and his puppy?” Penelope stood to press the inside of her wrist to her daughter’s forehead. “Who are you and what have you done with Elena?”

“You’re hilarious. I’m not kidding, though. Schneider’s part of the family and Oprah is part of **his** family and it’s been a month since the adoption and we should commemorate that.”

“Where is this coming from?” She sat back down and marked where she left off in the reading, so she could turn and fully focus on Elena. “I know you like the puppy, but this is weird, coming from you.”

“It’s not weird. We all love Schneider!”

“Yes, we do. And puppies.” Penelope sighed. “I don’t know. An adoption party for a dog?”

“Oprah’s adorable, Mom–and I know she’s a dog, but Schneider is trying so hard to be the perfect dad to her. It’s really sweet. I think we need to encourage that.”

“It is pretty sweet,” she agreed. Then she narrowed her eyes. “Have you spoken to your _Papi_ lately?”

“Last week.”

“You didn’t tell me.”

Elena shrugged. “There wasn’t much to tell. He asked me about school and then awkwardly changed the subject when Syd came up. It took, like, three minutes.”

Her _Mami_ would be home any minute, so Penelope just nodded and tugged Elena over for a hug. “So, we should throw a party on Saturday, huh--to celebrate Schneider being such a good dad.”

“To his puppy. Yes.”

“Right. To the puppy.” Penelope turned over a fresh sheet of paper and uncapped her pen. “Okay, let’s talk snacks.”


End file.
